Goals from 2009... how it went and where it is going.

well, so much for blogging over break. :)

2009 is here. Here is what I hope to do/be in 2009:


Here are goals I set for myself last NYE. They are actually really fun to revisit, since I haven't since then! :)

happy with how my life has been and is going. - Got it. So much more so than I could have ever imagined.

thankful for God's blessings. - I have been shown so much more in this than ever. I now have a heart for the less fortunate and for the people of Africa, which makes me more thankful every day for the blessings He has given me.

healthier and more fit. - eh still on a plateau on this one, but now am starting again.

a completer of a half marathon. - not so much. hmmm... maybe 2010.

a homeowner. - check. My beautiful condo is where I am living now. :)

more spiritually disciplined. - check in more ways than one.

a more regular blogger. - negative progress. oops! :)

I am only going to add one for 2010. Start to put myself out there emotionally. I dont think I have ever done this and these past few days have really made me realize it's time. It never felt like time before. It's just time now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

Peace Prize Commentary

I think this is a classy article. Thank goodness it is a non-negative view from the conservatives out there. Finally.

Taken from Ben's Blog....

Unprecedented court ruling in Cleveland ,
Cleveland, OH (AP) - A seven-year-old boy was at the center of a Cleveland courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and
learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of
life among them,the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Cleveland Browns, who the boy firmly believes is not capable of beating anyone.

SAD

Fall is starting to get to me with it's early dark times and taking so long to get light again! Have to find a way to overcome this seasonal affective disorder. Do you think it's a coincidence that Seasonal Affective Disorder spells SAD? I don't. Any suggestions?

God is love. Simple as that.

It's been a while...

It's been awhile, but I finally found something worth posting... I decided that if I do get married, this would be so freaking awesome to do.... I also think Steph Macek would thoroughly enjoy doing this at her future wedding as well. Enjoy! :)

Jesus is that Elephant!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage

Usually not a fan of Colbert at ALL, but this was very interesting to me. He is a quick one!

"Reproductive Freedom?"

This made my heart beat fast and got me really pumped up. Good work, John Piper!

Happy Belated Mother's Day - From Mr. T

Cleveland Rocks! :)

I love Cleveland.

Congratulations! You've lived 9,047 days! :)

Dead at Your Age

This website is a bit morbid, but actually pretty interesting. It tells you if you outlived any interesting people and congratulates you for living so long. Fun! :)

yep, yep, dunno, nothing

Yet another reason I could never teach high school. And why I love working with Youth Group kids. Contradictory, I know. :)

memories...

So funny... literally LOLed. And I needed to tell you that.

I want to be in this music class...

Music was one of my favorite classes in elementary school. If this would have been my class, I think I would have loved it even more. I thought singing oldies was cool, this would have been WAY cooler! :)

WOW

This hurts my heart. It also reminds me a lot of college and how when people try to convince others they are more "intelligent" than Christians, it tricks others into believing they are right. If only they knew....

P.S. Thanks to Lori for this video. And Lori, I did get your email, and I promise I will respond soon! :)

WHAT DO I MAKE?

WOW... a bit languagy, but o soooo true. This will get me pumped up enough to get through the last day before Spring Break.

Christians=manure

Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.

Good quote. So true. And made me laugh. :)

The Office MUSICAL! :)

This was stolen from Steph, but totally worth it:

Disturb us, Lord

I found this on my friend Mike's blog. It is the prayer of Sir Francis Drake. I think this is exactly the prayer I should be praying right now in my life.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Statistics...

Another good reason why I firmly believe that Young Adults are more important to win for Christ than most churches realize...

oooooooooo breakfast!

So many reasons to be excited for heaven... I didn't know that no mo' bacon would be one of them! :0

(For those who don't know my deep love for breakfast meats, I apologize!)

It's never too late to work on a phony Irish accent.

I love U2. And Irish Accents. Therefore I posted this video. :)

Lost generation...

My prayer for the youth of the church... and for the leaders.

CUTE! :)

Cutest thing ever. Again, kids never fail to amaze me with their cuteness and excitement! :)

Pay it forward?

Why does it surprise me so much when people in the real world are nice to people?

For example, I am trying to get pre-approved for a mortgage on my dream condo. (Yes, I found one, now let's just see if it is a financially responsible decision...)

The lady I was working with last night with the numbers and figures was sooo nice. Even though she worked for the big-bad bank who could easily go about it all tough and business like and meanly come flat out and say, "Well you don't make tons of money, so know that this is going to be painful." She had such an encouraging and nice attitude. She made me feel like I did something right in this process by saving. She encouraged me not to be worried because you never know what could happen. She even said how proud of me she was for being so realistic in what I could afford.

Why is this so suprising to me? Shouldn't everyone be like this? It sounds so cliche, but what a different place the world would be if everyone went about their career this way. That woman truely made me think about how I interact with others at my job. And how I can do it better. Thanks, key bank lady! :)

WOW! Here is a link I stole from Steph. It is a church gathering meant to bridge 4 generations of people in the church. When watching this, as fun as the atmosphere was, tears came to my eyes. I think that this wonderful opportunity is lost in so many churches due to lack of understand amongst generations and the severe gaps Satan has caused. Too many times each generation is cause up in their own generational issues, that how many times do we actually take to recognize that CHRIST BRIDGES THE GAP! Check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Church Anniversary Dance

Perspective

What an interesting way to compare and view these two things. Another reason I love Jesus. And many reasons why I need to focus this Lent on being patient with the church.

mr. pibb plus red vines = crazy delicious

1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name):
Lynn Aintree

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side and your favourite candy):
Mary Hershey

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name):
A Cal

4.YOUR GAMER TAG (a favourite colour, a favourite animal):
Rose .... (ok wait I don't really have any animals so this one I am not crazy about.. and I am not a gamer, so o well!)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in):
Lynn Highland

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of pets name):
Calboo (Again, no pet!)

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards:
nnyl hejdoob

8. SUPERHERO NAME ("The", your favourite colour and the automobile your dad drives):
The Rose Odyssey

9. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate): Gigi Pasta (ha ha !)

validated

stole this from a friend's blog. so fascinating. really makes ya think...

i still heart facebook.

gotta love the facebook....

KITTENS!

I saw this on the soup today. Hilarious. Kids are so funny. And I sense sarcasm which I always love. :)

sign of the times

I heard something yesterday that I thought was hilarious, but really made me think:

I was at a family birthday party surrounded by little elementary-school aged cousins. My one little cousin then sees a really cool shiny, moving, animated, HUGE clam in my uncle's fish tank. My other little cousin (who "owns" the clam) is standing there with her looking at it. The first little cousin proceeds to say, "WOAH! That is so cool! Was that very expensive?"

My little cousin is in first grade. She must have heard her siblings and parents ask this question all the time. Is the economy really effecting the little ones, even though they might not realize what is going on and all of its implications? A very "make you think" moment.

Is this ART?

Is this art even though it's creepy? I often find myself concluding that weird and creepy things are ok cause its just art. Does that make it OK? What do you think?

hmmm..

Sorry but I have been really into funny or interesting youtube videos. Watch the drummer in the background. For some reason I got into it.

Coldplay Fun

This is Creepily Awesome. Another one of the million reasons I heart Coldplay.

Why I would love to see this movie...

funny stuff!

the single life...

Overall, being single is excellent. I am pretty good with living my own life and not having to really "report" my day to anyone... or at least that's what I like to tell myself.

But then today I realized I constantly complain about how I am an extrovert and have no one to talk through or process things with. Contradiction? I think so.

I don't think I would mind being in a relationship if I found the right person. Of course, that's the hard part. Why, might you ask, does it seem so hard? Good question.

Maybe I am not opening myself up enough. I like my closed box, predictable, busy with no time open for suprises life. I finally realized that this might be becoming a problem when I thought about what I REALLY love to do... which is just BE ME with people.

I love human interaction. God made me that way. I love to feel wanted. God made me that way. I love being unique. I love being comfortable in my own skin, without ridicule. Sadly, there are people in my life who have seen these things as flaws.

I am finally at the point where I can honestly say I disagree with them. I have flaws and struggles. Doesn't everyone? God says that HIS strength is made perfect in my weaknesses. I celebrate the things others see as flaws because I truely believe God can work that way. Heck, just me accepting these flaws as strengths shows how truely awesome God is. Any woman who does not know Christ is incapable of doing this on her own. Trust me.

Maybe the problem that I am facing is that I am finally secure in who I am... now, let's find someone who loves that... :)

mint hot chocolate

I am sitting here drinking yummy mint hot chocolate... and thinking.

I feel like I have had a rough past few days. For some reason, all I can think about is how sad I have felt lately. I am sure it is just a random phase I am going through, but I really feel pretty isolated lately. Like you know that feeling when you feel like noone could possibly understand what you are going through? That's how I feel.

I am an extrovert most of the time in that I process mostly by talking things through. I think I came to the realization this week FINALLY that there is noone that I can consistantly do that with in my life right now. This is why I am starting to feel like blogging might help.

An extended member of my family died this past week. I didn't know him very well, but for some reason I am overwhelmed with sadness. I feel like it is mostly sadness for his family (my uncle, aunt, and cousins) and reflecting on losing someone close like a parent or grandparent and how hard that must be. I think since I haven't directly had to deal with a lot of tragedy in my life, whenever it does happen, it overtakes anything I was feeling before. And it sticks with me for a while.

It also makes me realize how insensitive I have been to others who have experienced this that I interact with regularly. Could I have done more to be there for them in their tough time? Is there anything I still can do? Why do I feel so helpless?

I think it all comes down to mortality. I am mortal. Everyone is mortal. We die. We leave loved ones behind. I don't think it's the death part that scares me. It's the aftermath on earth. If only everyone (including myself) could just get a grip on what heaven is like. It should make things easier. It should make us feel comforted. Am I not a true Christian because I don't feel comfort all of the time? What does this mean?

Well I am going to try to be productive today. Paper grading time!

blogging, youth group, and the living christian

So, I have been thinking (and encouraged... shout out to Stephanie!) that I for sure need to be blogging more. I am pretty sure not TOO many people read this, so why not organize my thoughts and dreams here?!?

So, tonight I helped out at youth group a bit. I cannot explain how much of a passion I have for working with these kids. I mean, I just see soo much potential, but at the same time feel like they are being so limited by the structure that we force upon them through the "youth group time."

I wish somehow we could show the kids what a LIVING CHRISTIAN is all about. It almost seems like they listen and hear, but almost don't believe that we are telling them the truth. Like they don't believe that we actually live the way we say we live. Or that we can't POSSIBLY be into the dusty old bible or the Jesus we hear about on Sunday mornings in boring sermons. Or that they believe every person who goes to church every Sunday loves and knows Jesus and their complacency during the service and beyond is a demonstration of their love for God.

Thinking back to my own youth group days, I am afraid to say I felt the same way. At first, I believed every leader was this sinless spectacle to be admired, then learned that they were not so perfect. This clouded my view of so much, including my view of God. It wasn't until college when I saw people seriously living out their faith that really drew me to Christ and changed me completely.

I want to be a living Christian for these kids to look up to. I want to show and tell them that life with Christ is about more than boring sermons or the dusty old bible. It is about a living God who fulfills me through the loneliness, heartache, depression, joy, excitement, etc.

That is all... school tomorrow. Boo. Yet yay. Cute kids. Early wake up call.